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CASE STUDY

CASE STUDY
VODAFONE ANSWERS
CALL TO
TRANSFORMATION
Vodafone’s ongoing business transformation project “Evolution Vodafone” has given
the global communications company a future-proof business model that saves
money and invests in innovation.
by Michaela Kresak, Lilian Corvington, Frits Wiegel,
Guido Wokurka, Stephanie Teufel and Peter Williamson
55
Achieving large-scale change
within any global company is
extraordinarily challenging.
This is particularly the case for
Vodafone. The journey from
a merger-and-acquisitiongrown
company to a shareholder-
and value-driven consumer
business was one of
the main drivers behind the
transformation project. Another
was to help Vodafone
become one global firm under
a single brand instead of
a multitude of independent
companies.
That is why Vodafone, one of
the world’s largest communications
companies, set out
on an ambitious program in
2006. It is radically transforming
the company’s back office
and support operations by
creating a new Future State
Operating model. Dubbed
“Evolution Vodafone” (EVO),
the Business Transformation
Programme is helping Vodafone
become a more competitive
global player. This
mission-critical program supports
back office, value chain
processes: the setup of a
shared service organization,
a globally centralized supply
chain community, and the Vodafone
Procurement Centre
VPC. The resulting operational
savings are enabling further
investment in innovative
technologies and new business
models. This, in turn, is
Abstract
defending and expanding the
company’s market position.
Finally, these combined efforts
are helping Vodafone
achieve a competitive advantage
through greater buying
power, new business models,
and effective acquisition integration.
The project is due for
completion by 2012.
For an overview of relevant
abbreviations, see the information
box on page 60.
The “Evolution Vodafone” (EVO) Business Transformation Programme,
started in 2006, transforms value chain back office processes.
This, in turn, has enabled Vodafone’s local operating companies
to focus on value creation. EVO is introducing one ‘Future
State Operating Model’ (FSOM) that works across supply chain, human
resources (HR) and finance functions to deliver a globally unified
set of standardized business processes. Fundamental aspects
of this program were the creation of a new Core Business Model,
Vodafone Procurement Center, and Shared Service Organization,
underpinned by a global SAP platform. EVO is due for completion
by 2012.

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56
Vodafone – Uniting Local
Talent for Global Strength
Since it launched its first cellular
network 25 years ago, Vodafone
Group Plc. has grown
through strategic acquisitions
to become one of the world’s
leading mobile telecommunications
companies. In 2010,
it had 85,000 employees with
total revenues of £44.5 billion.
As of 2010, the combined Vodafone
companies had 341
million customers. The company
has equity interests in
more than 30 countries and
partner networks in over 40
countries.
Most of the Vodafone Group’s
mobile subsidiaries operate
under the single flagship
brand ‘Vodafone’. Yet
because of the company’s
acquisition strategy, many of
these companies operated as
stand-alone businesses with
their own business processes.
As a result, inconsistencies
emerged that made it difficult
to operate efficiently as
a single company. This lack
Future State Operating Model (FSOM)
of economies of scale was
one of the major drivers behind
the Vodafone EVO Programme.
Radical Evolution for a
Changing Market Place
In the past, Vodafone had
successfully completed a major
global customer growth
phase. Now it sought to realize
the many benefits of its
larger scale by becoming a
truly global company. At the
same time, senior managers
wanted to send a strong signal
to the market that Vodafone
was far greater than the
sum of its individual assets.
They also wanted to maximize
shareholder revenue
and establish a ‘new way of
working’. To achieve these
The ‘Future State Operating Model’ (FSOM) is designed to:
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Get a “single version of the truth” – a single, global, centralized
database that stores all of Vodafone’s business data consistently
and non-redundantly.
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Simplify business operations, thus freeing up time and talents to
focus on increasing shareholder value.
Standardize global processes that impact the value chain.
Leverage economies of scale to gain a competitive advantage.
Identify the best commercial solutions to utilize buying power.
Maximize technology to support the new global business model.
Provide a consistent employee experience in a streamlined
organization.
Develop sustainable capability for change and future global
strategies.
Fig. 1: Future State Operating Model
“When we change,
we change together.”
Mission Statement for EVO
goals, they defined a set of
strategies:
––
Drive operational performance.
––
Pursue growth opportunities
in total communications.
––
Execute in emerging markets.
––
Strengthen financial discipline.
Transforming Vodafone’s back
office operations became fundamental
to achieving these
objectives. This move will
improve and streamline business
decision-making processes
with high-quality information,
reduce costs, deliver
greater value creation opportunities,
and offer enhanced
service delivery capabilities.
An example of this is Vodafone’s
strategic goal of building
in-house expertise. At the
start of the EVO Programme,
Vodafone did not have the
business transformation management
experience on the
scale of the EVO implementation.
Management saw the
deployment as an opportunity
to acquire know-how for
future scope extensions and
the implementation of similar
programs. These might include
customer-facing areas
like retail store logistics, back
office extensions in real estate
management, or mobile

CASE STUDY
Inputs
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Financial Management Human Resources Management (HR) Outputs
Order to Cash (OTC)
Resourcing
Capital
SCM Strategy & Change (S&C)
Budgeting & Planning (B&P)
Learning & Development
Products
Employees
SCM Planning (PLN)
Lust to Dust (LTD)
Reward & Recognition
Services
SCM Sourcing (SOU)
Intercompany
Organisation & Change
Information
Requirement
Procure to Pay (PTP)
Working Practices &
Administration
Information
Satisfaction
Materials
Vendor Performance
Management (VPM)
Manage Travel & Expenses
(T&E)
Treasury and Cash Management
(TCM)
Record to Report (RTR)
Return on
Capital
Warehouse Stock Management &
Fulfillment (WSMF)
Roaming
VPC Trading
Fig. 2: The EVO Core Business Model (CBM)
57
platform innovations.Yet the
EVO Programme will also allow
the Vodafone Group to
act as a truly global company.
From the outset, the decision
was made to exclude customer-facing,
front-end processes
during the first steps of the
rollout. Given the size and
complexity of existing billing
and Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) systems,
for example, management
teams wanted to limit risks
to non-customer-facing, core
value chain processes. Another
consideration was to
build a foundation for future
change.
The EVO Business Transformation
Programme
The EVO Programme is a
large-scale organization. Like
a medium-sized, aggressivegrowth
company, it had the
necessary scale and staff
size to pursue fast-paced
timescales and achieve immediate
results. Housed in a
completely separate building,
team members worked in a
company-within-a-company
atmosphere. This allowed the
programme to move forward
as quickly as possible with
separate, fast-track decisionmaking.
EVO was supported by SAP
in a Value Partnership (VPS)
between SAP and Vodafone.
Accenture and IBM were selected
as implementation
partners. Niall O’Sullivan and
Lilian Corvington led the EVO
central team at Vodafone
headquarters in Newbury,
UK. Michaela Kresak led a
joint roadmap from the SAP
side to help Vodafone meet
business objectives. After a
tragic accident in Switzerland
in 2011, Neill Crump assumed
her role.
Created as an integral part of
EVO, the Core Business Model
(CBM, see figure 2) translates
Vodafone’s Future State
Operating Model (FSOM, see
fig. 1) into a set of standardized
global business processes,
underpinned by a singleinstance
SAP system. As the
CBM (fig. 2) demonstrates,
Vodafone will introduce 19
new end-to-end business
processes for supply chain
management (SCM), human
resources (HR), and finance
functions. In addition, EVO included
the selection of an Enterprise
Resource Planning
(ERP) platform and an implementation
partner.
Vodafone also implemented
centralized key business
functions to ensure that it gets
the right people with the right
skills doing the right business
activities. To enable SCM
benefits, the company created
one global community reporting
to a single lead. This
allowed the Vodafone Pro-

CASE STUDY
58
curement Company (VPC) to
enable large-scale global procurement
from a single location
and to eliminate activity
duplication.
Finally, the EVO Programme
introduced Shared Service
Centers, an organization that
enables the centralized and
standardized processing of
high-volume business transactions
and other administrative
tasks across SCM,
HR and finance. It leverages
near-shore and off-shore locations
to further optimize operation
costs.
Vodafone’s Approach in
Relation to BTM 2
Vodafone planned and designed
the principles of the
EVO Business Transformation
Programme in April 2006
at “Accelerated Solution Design”
(ASD) events, a series
of seven workshops held at
Pinewood Studios near London.
The workshop participants
met in a special, closedroom
setting that encouraged
open thinking and that was
conductive to the “we are
one” consensus objective.
One outcome – a drawing
Divided into three phases, the EVO Programme has achieved
several critical milestones over the past four years:
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Phase 1 (2006 – 2007):
The first step in Vodafone’s business transformation
begins with the setup of the Transformation project.
The design of the Core Business Model, as well as
creation of the supporting SAP platform, has its start.
Phase 2 (2007 – 2009):
EVO delivers its first tangible results. The Vodafone
Procurement Company and the Vodafone
Operations Center are established, followed by the
first country rollouts in Hungary, Germany, and
India.
Phase 3 (2010 – 2012):
EVO enlarges its footprint to enable Vodafone to
become a global player. International rollouts are
scaled up, with multiple concurrent releases going
live every six months. The Third-party Logistics
Terminals Model (3TM) program is created to focus
on handset logistics and the EVO Fast Track for
emerging countries. The EVO program will be completed
in 2012.
Fig. 3: EVO‘s Three Phases
that shows the transformation
drivers and programme
deliverables of the EVO Programme
– is presented in figure
4.
The Vodafone business
transformation approach that
emerged from these ASD
meetings bears a remarkably
strong correlation to the eight
disciplines of BTM 2 . This correlation
is one of the reasons
Vodafone participated in this
case study. For an overview
of the BTM 2 approach, see
page 25 in issue 1 of the 360°
Journal. Readers will find a
detailed description of EVO
alongside the 8 disciplines of
the BTM 2 below.
Strategy Management
Applied in EVO
The strategic management
discipline is designed to help
managers plan transformation
projects in a way that
benefits the business. Vodafone’s
primary interest in
transformation was to make
the move from a merger-andacquisition-grown
technology
company to a shareholderdriven,
consumer company. It
also sought to join its multiple
subsidiaries into one global
company. The effort has
made Vodafone a more competitive,
global player. The
resulting operational savings
can be invested in other innovative
technologies. The newfound
flexibility also supports
new business models that
strengthen its market position
with greater buying power,
lower transaction costs, and
economies of scale. These

CASE STUDY
benefits should then help
pave the way for new acquisitions
in emerging markets.
In the meantime, the EVO
Programme has already
tapped into several potential
value areas. With the end of
the rollouts, a new EVO phase
will begin. It will focus on hidden
value potentials and operating
model ‘fine-tuning’.
Value Management in EVO
Value management organizes
and manages business transformation
projects like EVO
to realize maximum potential
value. This discipline offers
tools and techniques to help
organizations better identify
business value, build the
business case, and manage
necessary changes.
By consistently applying
these concepts, techniques,
and frameworks, the EVO
Programme is achieving annual
cash savings of over
€550 million. Vodafone has,
for example, realized savings
through Shared Service Center
standardized transaction
processing and lower total
cost of ownership from IT. By
the end of 2011, over 60,000
employees will be using EVO
processes, systems, and new
ways of working.
Risk Management in EVO
The risk management discipline
within BTM 2 gives organizations
a comprehensive
and enterprise-wide view of
strategic risks. These risks are
defined as external risk drivers
that could impact – either
negatively or positively – the
Fig. 4: A Schematic Illustration of Project EVO
company’s ability to achieve
its strategic objectives on a
two- to five-year horizon. Vodafone
continues to use this
discipline to identify risks at
both the local and global level.
By avoiding potential pitfalls
with a predefined risk clarification
framework, EVO is able to
document the probability and
impact of potential threats. It
can then take mitigating actions.
Instead of exploring
risks during the different project
phases, the EVO team
initiates risk workshops at the
very beginning of every rollout.
Based on project scope and
lessons learned from previous
rollouts, as many risks are
identified as possible. Mitigating
actions are then assigned
to each of them. The most
common EVO risks involve
legacy IT system integration.
Another area deals with competition
due to critical parallel
projects. Other risks include
top resource availability, external
partnership dependencies,
executive sponsorship, and
key stakeholder buy-in over
a five-year program. Among
the most efficient risk mitigation
actions were commercial
and legal safeguarding. This
included changing the original
Accenture contract into a
multi-vendor contract. They
proved to be especially valuable
in times of crisis for the
program. Thanks to risk management,
Vodafone has been
able to realize business case
benefits better and to move to
an operational business-asusual
model while managing
rollouts.
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60
Process Management
in EVO
CBM process standardization
and simplification are the key
EVO Programme drivers. As
a fundamental part of CBM,
they make shared services
possible. As a result, they
lower transaction costs. Prior
to EVO, process management
at Vodafone was done
on a market-by-market basis
with different process modeling
methods and tools. EVO
developed one global process
standard in the Architecture
of Integrated Information Systems
(ARIS) toolset. Based
on this standard, new processes
are created for supply
chain management, human
resources, and finance. They
provide a consistent employee
experience and simplify
the way the CBM is operated.
More recently, Vodafone has
also made a strategic move
toward working with a multivendor
EVO approach in the
future. CBM technical documentation
is now stored in
the SAP Solution Manager, a
centralized support and system
management suite. SAP
Solution Manager provides
an extensive set of features
in the IT Support area for enhancing,
automating, and improving
the management of
SAP systems. ARIS and SAP
Solution Manager are now
fully integrated and published
on the Vodafone intranet. In
doing so, the team has created
a leading-edge portal
for the CBM. This investment
now provides a consolidated
platform for Vodafone. It enables
continuous improvement,
effectiveness, and an
efficient business-as-usual
mode across the model’s entire
lifecycle.
EVO Abbreviations
3TM
ASD
CBM
EVO
FSOM
OpCo
VPC
Third-party Logistics Terminals Model
Accelerated Solution Design
Core Business Model
Evolution Vodafone
Future State Operating Model
Operating Company
Vodafone Procurement Company
Program and Project Management
in EVO
Program and project management
is a comprehensive
discipline. It makes it possible
to manage various program
elements centrally to achieve
specific business objectives.
It also supports project leaders
in making informed decisions
on a number of related
elements to achieve specific
outcomes. Vodafone used
this valuable discipline to define
its rollout strategy, track
the business case, achieve
good governance, handle
scope, manage risks, and
plan resources. To ensure
this, Vodafone used a standard
program management
method. As a result, project
leaders continue to provide
governance and a common
set of tools and processes to
support EVO implementation
teams’ IT projects. EVO Programme
management has
also paid specific attention to
a key challenge that any complex
program faces: ensuring
information flow visibility
among the program’s various
groups. The team is also responsible
for making certain
that explicit approval mechanisms
are in place at each
program stage. The program
also produced another very
tangible result: Vodafone won
the SAP EMEA Quality Award
as a GOLD Winner.
Every large-scale program
faces a tipping point where
the business support organization
outgrows the program
organization. The business
owners’ agenda is driven by
operational objectives that
are not equal to roll-out completion.
At the time of this writing,
the issue has been identified.
The resolution, however,
is still in progress.
IT Transformation Management
in EVO
IT transformation management
helps change an organization’s
technology systems
to reduce costs, achieve lower
total cost of ownership, and
enhance quality and performance.
In terms of this discipline,
Vodafone hired a group
of people in the Vodafone

CASE STUDY
organization with extensive
experience in global transformation
programs and extensive
technical expertise. After
a detailed selection process,
SAP was chosen as the ERP
value partner for its standard,
out-of-the-box, best-practice
processes. Additional business
software products were
chosen from Informatica,
Opentext, Readsoft, Sabrix,
Redwood, HP, and Remedy
for their ability to integrate
within an SAP-based IT landscape.
One of the key challenges for
Vodafone was the consolidation
of all local legacy ERP
packages. Project managers
were confronted with large
numbers of interfaces, users,
and legal requirements. To
add to the task’s complexity,
the IT organization had to shift
from a mostly independent,
local IT department working
structure into a more collaborative
global model. Finally,
the EVO Programme had to
accommodate sheer scale.
For instance, by 2012, more
than 80,000 people will be using
EVO in multiple locations
around the world. Each year,
Vodafone processes more
than 50 million SAP IDOC (Intermediate
Document) “messages”,
a standard SAP document
format used for data in
purchase orders, for example,
or the supplier profile information
in a supplier master
record. 1,000 interfaces will
connect legacy systems. Two
data centers in Germany and
India will also host more than
280 dedicated servers.
Change and Training
Management in EVO
Change management defines
and addresses the things that
cause change. Large companies
like Vodafone use it to
make radical, complex, and
necessary change for future
success. It also defines why
change is necessary in the
first place. In doing so, it enables
people, teams, and organizations
to adopt change.
It also supports managers in
successfully leading change
processes. Recognizing that
enduring, meaningful change
requires organizational buy-in
at all levels, Vodafone used
the change management discipline
to lead by example.
Yet change management and
training have proven to be
quite a challenge for the EVO
Business Transformation Programme.
This was because
Vodafone operating companies
(OpCos) began the EVO
Programme from very heterogeneous
starting points. As a
result, it was difficult to design
and build a “one-size-fits-all”
training library that addressed
the adoption needs of all endusers.
In terms of systems, the Op-
Cos began EVO with very different
legacy IT landscapes
and user experiences. For
OpCos who were already
using SAP, for example, the
new user experience was an
extension of the existing one.
For OpCos transitioning from
“This culture of acknowledging and
learning from our mistakes is critically
important and must be constantly
nurtured and developed.”
Niall O’Sullivan, EVO’s Global Programme Director
Oracle, however, the profound
technical and end-user
changes represented a complete
break with the past.
From a process perspective,
EVO forced all employees to
work and think differently than
they had before. A prime example
was the introduction
of a new three-way matching
system (purchase order,
receipt, and invoice) within a
purchase-to-pay process to
approve invoices automatically
for payment.
There are several major challenges
in driving a global
change programme, among
them the “not invented here”
syndrome, cultural differences,
and lack of ramp-up time.
To overcome these, Lilian
Corvington was convinced
that an accelerated, intensive
preparation programme was
necessary before any rollout
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62
started in local markets. She
introduced the ‘Fit for EVO’
approach, which proved very
successful. The sessions
brought together local teams,
local senior management,
global teams, system integrators,
and local IT vendors in a
conducive, one-team environment.
This not only facilitated
knowledge transfer, but it also
created positive momentum
and convinced “changeagents”.
Additionally, ‘EVO ambassadors’
have been appointed.
These are key project members
who have already gained
deep EVO knowledge in one
country. They are then reappointed
to support another
country with their business
transformation know-how. As
a result, lessons learned are
employed at every new release.
To cater to all training needs,
a “Core Training Library” was
set up. It consists of over
1,000 training assets and
covers all business processes
and functionalities provided
by EVO. To accommodate
local EVO language requirements,
materials are provided
in English, German, Spanish,
and Italian. Finally, each of
these efforts has been managed
to be as cost effective
as possible.
A Tale of an
Implementation Journey
Hungary and Germany were
the two countries selected
for the pilot. Because of the
delays described earlier in
this study, the go-live dates
for both countries were staggered.
Hungary was the first
to deploy because of its size.
Germany went second.
The experiences provided
“A global business transformation
like the EVO Programme requires
stable, well-proven technology.”
Andy Halford, Global CFO, Vodafone
by the initial setup of the procurement
center and the first
shared service center in Hungary
proved to be extremely
valuable. The subsequent
rollouts in Hungary and Germany
also provided a study
in contrasts for the kinds of
challenges faced by the EVO
Team. Due to their different
IT landscapes, corporate cultures,
requirements, and expectations,
the countries approached
pre-, during-, and
post-launch experiences in
very different ways. This required
the EVO Programme
to develop adaptive response
mechanisms that anticipate
future rollout challenges and
that avoid one-size-fits-all
strategies.
The implementation started
with the creation of the Vodafone
Procurement Company
(VPC) and the Vodafone Operations
Centre in Hungary
(VOCH) shared service center
based in Hungary. Within
a matter of weeks, complex
structures were created in
record time to help OpCos
operate globally. Hundreds
of top-skilled internal and external
Vodafone professionals
began working together in
new facilities using the CBM
processes for the first time.
In spite of the significant investments
in both time and
money, the first rollout was
ultimately delayed. Teams
engaged in lengthy strategic
design discussions. Yet their
plans failed to reach the execution
stage. Senior management
ultimately decided
to force the issue by setting
down a hard deadline for
deployment. This prompted
EVO teams to change the
style and substance of their
deliberations and planning.
Discussions became more focused
and solution oriented.
The ground rules had clearly
changed.
Rollout Hungary
Headquartered in Budapest,
Vodafone Hungary is a midsize
company that employs
2,000 people. Before EVO, it
had a legacy Oracle environment
with basic functionality.
This made the EVO launch in
Hungary less complex than

CASE STUDY
at many of its larger counterparts
in Western Europe. It
also made it an ideal counterweight
to its more mature
trial partner, Germany. Due
to the above – and the fact
that Hungary had a relatively
small IT platform and a strong
need to strengthen process
and controls – it offered little
resistance in changing its IT
systems and business processes.
During the actual go-live, senior
management had high
expectations for the EVO
team and employees. Not
only would the program ultimately
force the organization
to adapt to new business processes
and to a new shared
services organization, it would
also change the very way colleagues
worked together.
Although the Hungary EVO
team was well prepared
for the actual launch, it did
not foresee the amount of
hands-on support that endusers
would require. During
the early days, weeks, and
months following deployment,
the high volume of support
requests greatly exceeded
initial estimates. This had a
significant impact on resource
availability for both Vodafone
core teams and Accenture
teams. As a result, personnel,
assets, and materials
that could have been devoted
to the next EVO release were
held back. This experience
and key learning went on to
have a profound impact on
the large-scale deployment
scheduled that launched in
Germany just weeks later.
Rollout Germany
In contrast to Vodafone Hungary,
Vodafone Germany
is a very mature company.
From 2009 to 2010, it earned
€9.04 billion p.a., which represents
more than 20 percent
of Vodafone’s total revenue.
Headquartered in Dusseldorf,
Germany, it has 13,000 employees.
Germany was also an attractive
choice for the pilot. It was
Europe’s largest market, and
it had a mature SAP platform.
Project managers reasoned
that if they could achieve a
successful go-live in Germany,
they would be able to
bring the remaining entities
on board. Teams within the
German organization were
also motivated to participate.
As experienced SAP users,
they wanted to influence the
implementation’s final design.
The EVO deployment posed a
greater challenge to Vodafone
Germany. The organization
had over 130 legacy systems
and had been an experienced
SAP user for over a decade.
Over time, it had adapted
its systems to local requirements
and working styles.
This included many customized
business processes. The
pending deployment meant
that much of this dearly-held
functionality would be standardized
and eliminated. As
a result, there was significant
skepticism among many internal
stakeholders.
The deployment also took on
a socio-political dimension
– a factor that was absent
from the rollouts in Hungary
and later in emerging market
countries. The work split with
the newly established procurement
and shared service
centers conflicted with employees’
strongly held values
of social fairness and job security.
The deployment was
perceived by some employees
as a potential “job killer”.
As a result, the rollout was
sometimes met with significant
resistance.
To minimize risk and give Vodafone
Germany ample time
to adjust to change, a phased,
incremental approach was
chosen over a “big bang”.
Thanks to the early experiences
in Hungary, the EVO
team also moved quickly to
provide hypercare – one-onone,
on-location support – to
all employees affected by the
transition.
Support teams dressed in
red T-shirts were dispatched
throughout the Vodafone
Germany campus to answer
questions, solve problems,
and liaise with project leaders.
This direct support effort
provided the EVO team with
a critical set of quick-wins
to overcome resistance and
drive adoption. Support was
complemented by comprehensive
education sessions
and training events. Senior
corporate executives also
personally assisted in adoption
efforts. OpCo Board-level
managers participated in a
large-scale communications
drive, making themselves visible
to employees throughout
the deployment and expressing
their explicit support for
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64
EVO. Finally, the EVO team
offered important compromises.
Some solutions were
adapted to better meet local
requirements, most notably
the decision not to implement
the order-to-cash process. At
the same time, not all workers
were moved to the shared
services center during the
first phase. This helped to
minimize the degree of sudden
change in such a large
organization.
Vodafone and Accenture
also faced major challenges
and risks to their commercial
obligations. Because of the
program’s enormous size,
scope, and complexity, commercial
issues emerged with
Accenture and an escalation
ensued. This forced the
global leadership teams from
both parties to agree to new
terms and conditions to be
able to continue the EVO Programme.
Unlocking Unexpected
Opportunities
Over the course of the project,
EVO teams also had the
opportunity to apply the lessons
learned in Hungary and
Germany. This added value
to two unexpected opportunities,
leading to a successful
extension of scope of the
EVO Programme. For a related
discussion of the project’s
working culture, see figure 5.
The first opportunity emerged
from the Third-party Logistics
Terminals Model (3TM). As
a mobile operator, Vodafone
provides connectivity to its
cellular and data networks.
Challenges of Business Transformation
Over the course of the first rollouts, EVO teams learned how to
provide immediate, effective solutions to common problems. By
creating a culture that acknowledged and learned from mistakes,
the program achieved several important objectives:
ᐅᐅ
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ᐅᐅ
Maintain momentum over multiple years
Cater to changing business models
Manage people and change actively
Get to ‘business-as-usual’ as quickly as possible
Adopt a global platform
Manage the initial negative effects of the implementation on the
local market
Fig. 5: Challenges of Business Transformation
The original scope of the EVO
Programme was designed
to address this aspect of its
business. Yet Vodafone is
also a large-scale retailer. It
sells handsets, devices, and
accessories, and pairs them
with services in its own retail
stores and through other
sales channels. Recognizing
the need to harmonize processes
across the Vodafone
business, the EVO team created
a new common terminals
operating model, 3TM. This
model was quickly handed to
EVO as the delivery vehicle
of choice for implementing
global large-scale transformation
programs. A 3TM pilot
program was successfully
implemented in July 2010 for
Vodafone Netherlands, and
it received overwhelmingly
positive feedback from internal
and external stakeholders.
The second opportunity
emerged during an unexpected
pan-Indian EVO rollout
called “Project Tiger”.
India’s Hutchison Essar was
acquired by Vodafone to become
Vodafone Essar in May
2007. Because India was not
part of the Vodafone family
when the EVO Programme
was launched in 2007, integration
of the new business
was an unexpected additional
task. Through its “Project Tiger”,
Vodafone set out to help
Vodafone Essar consolidate
and standardize processes
in order to sustain planned
growth. The pan-Indian rollout
was completed by July 7,
2010 – with zero disruption to
the business during the entire
implementation phase.
Empowering Transformation
Success
In overcoming all of these
challenges, finance, supply
chain, and HR have successfully
converted their business
operations to the ‘new Vodafone
way of working’.
In SCM, the ‘One Supply
Chain Management’ element
of the EVO Programme has

CASE STUDY
Key Learnings
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ᐅᐅ
ᐅᐅ
ᐅᐅ
ᐅᐅ
ᐅᐅ
Keep launch commitments, even if it means temporarily overriding internal resistance.
Involve key individuals and organizations in project design and planning as early as possible.
Simulate new business processes at an early stage to avoid threats to service quality and stakeholder
buy-in.
Delays and challenges are inevitable. Be ready for them with strong structure and superior skills.
Turn big challenges as ‘scope creep’ into new opportunities by creating spin-off projects.
Be able to quantify, track, and continually communicate your program’s financial and strategic benefits.
Get the best people on your team as soon as possible. At the same time, understand that high performers
in existing roles may not be suited to high-stress project management roles.
Do proactively address performance issues in the program and drive the solution of these issues.
The urgent nature of transformation projects leave little time for potential difficulties.
Put strong commercial and legal arrangements in place quickly.
Continually evaluate the performance of all suppliers.
Create an environment where people can be very open about their issues and mistakes. This also
applies to communications with senior management
Stay on budget! Make sure that financial support is big enough before you start. Avoid appropriating
additional resources after the fact.
65
succeeded in streamlining
operations. Now they are
more consistent, and they
foster collaboration as a community.
The project has also
introduced a newly appointed
global head of supply chain,
a consistent way of getting
things done, and a unified
organizational structure. Vodafone
now qualifies its suppliers.
This allows the company
to take advantage of
volume purchasing through
eProcurement tools. Instead
of managing 19 separate local
markets, Vodafone now
deals with one location and
with one contract.
In HR, teams are focused on
delivering great employee
experiences. This is helping
the company achieve its strategic
objectives through its
people. EVO does this in several
ways. Line managers,
for example, are empowered
to strengthen relationships
with their employees. They
achieve this by promoting operational
excellence through
self-service learning, events,
and personal data management.
Today, finance is also evolving
to become a high-performing
global team. EVO enables
this transformation with
a single finance platform and
shared service centers that
use consistent business principles
and processes. In the
future, Vodafone also hopes
that these services will shift
administrative and volume
transaction processing responsibilities
from the OpCos
to let them focus on value
creation aligned to strategic
objectives.
The authors would like to thank:
ᐅᐅ
Andy Halford (Chief Financial Officer for Vodafone),
ᐅᐅ
Niall O’Sullivan (Programme Director for the EVO Program at
Vodafone)
ᐅᐅ
Giovanni Chiarelli (Programme Delivery Director)
ᐅᐅ
Marcus Cotes (Global Head of Enterprise Resource Planning at
Vodafone)
for sharing their experiences and lessons learned in the transformation
program.

CASE STUDY
AUTHORS
Michaela Kresak was SAP’s Global Programme Director for Vodafone, with more
than 15 years experience in the telecommunications industry, working for operators,
start-up companies and large consultancies around the world. Michaela held
a Masters degree from the University of Vienna and the University College Dublin,
and an Executive MBA from the University of Fribourg and the Cambridge Judge
Business School. Michaela was the driving force behind instigating this study
and worked tirelessly to build the relationship between Vodafone, SAP and the
academic world. Michaela tragically passed away prior to the publication of this
study, Vodafone and SAP dedicate this paper to the memory of someone who was
truly inspirational.
66
Lilian Corvington is the Global Implementation Lead for EVO and 3TM and has
directed several similar large-scale programs world-wide. Previously, she was Director
of Global Transformation and Process Management at Alcatel-Lucent. She
has been an independent Management Consultant and a partner at Deloitte &
Touche earlier in her career, with a focus in the Telecom and Retail industries. Lilian
has two Masters Degrees: MBA/MIS and Manufacturing Production Planning.
lilian.corvington[at]vodafone.com
Frits Wiegel is the Global Head of Process Governance in EVO. He joined Vodafone
since 2007. His responsibilities include the development and implementation
of Vodafone’s Business Process Management strategy, maintain global process
integrity and support EVO transformation implementation. Prior to joining Vodafone
he held the position of Corporate Process architect in Alcatel. Frits hold a
Master degree in Business Administration from Bradford University.
frits.wiegel[at]vodafone.com
Dr. Guido Wokurka is Director at SAP and heading Business Transformation
Services for Western Europe. Over the last more than 10 years he has worked
with most of Europe’s top 10 telecommunications service providers. Prior to joining
SAP he was senior manager at Alcatel (now Alcatel-Lucent). Guido holds an
executive MBA degree from the iimt and completed the Advanced Leadership
Program at the University of Cambridge last year.
guido.wokurka[at]sap.com
Prof. Dr. Stephanie Teufel is the Director of the iimt (international institute of
management in technology) at University of Fribourg, Switzerland and holds a full
professorship in ICT Management at the faculty of Economics and Social Sciences.
Dr. Teufel has published numerous international publications in the fields
of information security management, innovation and technology management as
well as mobile business.
stephanie.teufel[at]unifr.ch
Prof. Peter Williamson is Professor of International Management and Fellow
Commoner of Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. He holds a PhD from
the Harvard University. He is also Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors
of the macro hedge fund manager Tactical Global Management.
p.williamson[at]jbs.cam.ac.uk

CASE STUDY COMMENT
Think Global, Adapt Local
A Comment on the Vodafone Case by Werner Schultheis
The EVO case study provides
an overview of how
global companies are challenged
to drive large-scale
transformation programs for
new business models and
further growth. The EVO vision
and strategic roadmap
to increase shareholder
value follow well-known patterns
that we have seen in
many other international
companies before. This case
study nonetheless shows
why multinational transformations
could not be executed
within a simple copy-andpaste
approach.
The EVO case also underscores
how different languages,
cultures, and corporate
DNAs, like management,
processes and systems, can
be significant drivers in any
whole-scale transformation
process. This is particularly
true for Vodafone – a company
forged by a series of
international mergers and
acquisitions. Acting independently,
each of these regional
companies had established
its own powerful financial,
human resources, and procurement
departments. This
fueled resistance to change
during country-by-country
rollout phases. That is why
the EVO project team’s decision
to conduct small-scale
rollouts was the right way to
go, particularly in Hungary
– home of Vodafone’s new
HR and financial back office.
Hungary provided a critical
first lesson in business transformation
management. And
it would prove to be an important
lesson learned for
subsequent roll-outs in bigger
and more powerful Vodafone
countries.
During the rollout in Germany,
the EVO team also made
several crucial key learnings:
––
Manage expectations up
front.
––
Involve top management
early, often, and extensively.
––
Give people time to learn
and adopt new ways of
working within a different
process and system
environment.
Only when these prerequisites
are fulfilled can true
change happen.
AUTHOR
That is why the EVO case
study is an example of the
challenges that companies
face during global business
transformation processes. At
the same time, it also demonstrates
how other organizations
can benefit from experiences
like this 3TM project
to drive future change.
The EVO project followed a
well-known, logical business
model pattern. Yet a business
transformation blueprint for
a smooth international transition
– one that fits all industries,
countries, and cultures
– remains elusive. That is
why Vodafone’s decision to
invest in building up its own
institutional knowledge for
transformation competence
was a wise one. As a result,
the global company has succeeded
in creating a framework
that designs future
business models globally –
and adapts them locally.
Werner Schultheis is Director IT & Processes
at Randstad Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG.
Before he changed to IT & Processes, he was
Director Business Development and District
Manager in the sales organisation. He holds
an engineering degree of the TU Darmstadt,
Germany.
werner.schultheis[at]de.randstad.com
67